Doctoral Dissertation Research: Settlement Formation and Land Use and Land Cover Change: a case study in the Brazilian Amazon

巴西的土地改革已经延伸到亚马逊流域，对贫困和环境的担忧已经在整个盆地的殖民地区融合在一起。针对亚马逊森林砍伐原因的研究涉及到许多因素，从巴西南部市场的作用到个体农户的规模，这些研究都是拟议项目力求提供的。然而，关于土地改革对这一大规模环境退化进程的影响，仍有许多事情有待了解。拟议的研究试图通过直接参考潜在的社会和制度环境来理解亚马逊地区的土地覆盖和土地利用变化，这些社会和制度环境是造成亚马逊盆地森林砍伐的一个原因，近年来这种情况日益严重，而且没有任何减少的迹象。具体来说，贫穷的农民对巴西政府的土地再分配承诺感到失望，他们自己承担了建立定居点或协议的责任。拟议的研究涉及目前影响亚马逊森林最脆弱部分的一种特殊类型的定居点，该定居点位于退化土地上。拟议研究的目标是了解导致自发形成协议的社会过程，并评估对亚马逊森林砍伐的相关影响。这需要两个具体目标，即：(1)对我们已经确定了一些关键线人的新形成的协议进行案例研究，以及(2)对该协议和该区域发现的其他类似协议中发生的森林砍伐进行遥感分析。因此，本项目旨在确定自发定居对亚马逊流域森林砍伐的影响。该项目研究的学术价值在于：(1)将揭示自发聚落形成的潜在原因，(2)将衡量这些聚落作为森林砍伐的近因的作用程度。换句话说，这项研究将有助于巴西土地改革的文献，同时它也揭示了亚马逊森林砍伐的情况。此外，这项研究将对有关亚马孙森林丧失、土地改革和为农村穷人提供有尊严的生活的政策界产生更广泛和重大的实际影响。

Land reform in Brazil has moved into the reaches of the Amazon, and concerns about poverty and the environment have merged in colonization areas throughout the basin. Research addressing the causes of Amazonian deforestation, to which the proposed project seeks to contribute, has implicated many factors, ranging from the role of markets in the south of Brazil to the size of individual farming households. Much remains to be learned, however, about the impact of agrarian reform on this massive process of environmental degradation. The proposed research seeks to comprehend land cover and land use change in Amazonia by direct reference to the underlying social and institutional circumstances that have contributed to a source of deforestation in the Amazon basin that has grown in significance in recent years, and shows no signs of abating. Specifically, poor farmers, who have grown disillusioned with the Brazilian government's promise of land redistribution, have taken it upon themselves to form settlements, or assentamentos. The proposed research addresses a particular type of settlement presently affecting the most vulnerable parts of the Amazon forest, which is found on terra devoluta. The goal of the proposed research is to comprehend the social processes leading to spontaneously-formed assentamentos, and also to assess associated impacts on Amazonian deforestation. This entails two specific objectives, namely to (1) undertake a case study of a newly formed assentamento where we have already identified a number of key informants, and to (2) conduct a remote sensing analysis of deforestation occurring in this assentamento and others like it, found in the region. Thus, this project seeks to ascertain the effects of spontaneous settlement on deforestation in the Amazon basin. The academic merit of the project research is that it (1) will reveal the underlying causes of spontaneous settlement formation, and it (2) will measure the extent to which such settlements function as a proximate cause of deforestation. In other words, the research will contribute to the literature on land reform in Brazil at the same time it sheds light on Amazonian deforestation. In addition, this research will have a broader and significant pratical impact for the policy community concerned with loss of the Amazon forest, land reform, and with the provision of a life of dignity for the rural poor.